Vlil PREFACE. 
and in his senior year he is taught, necessarily in a 
very hurried manner, in Chemistry, Mineralogy, and 
Geology. Yale College by no means stands alone in 
this respect, for very nearly the same is true of most 
of the colleges in this country, showing how little im- 
portance is attached to the study of the natural sci- 
ences as a part of the system of education. 
All this is radically wrong. The natural sciences 
ought to have a place on an equality with the other 
studies, and from the outset. The child, when he be- 
gins to attend school, is interested in any thing that 
calls forth suitably that joint employment of his per- 
ceptive and reasoning powers which we call observa- 
tion; and, therefore, with his first learning to read, 
natural objects should be made the subjects of instruc- 
tion. All teachers who have used my “ Child’s Book 
of Common Things,” and who, in connection with its 
use, have brought natural objects into the school-room 
for “object lessons,” as they are termed, know by ex- 
perience that the plan recommended is a feasible one. 
This is teaching science; in a small way, it is true, 
but yet teaching it, and laying a good foundation for 
farther instruction, not merely in the facts learned, 
but in the habits of observation which are formed. 
There are numberless facts about air, water, light, 
plants, animals, etc., which the youngest pupils can 
understand, if they are presented in the right manner. 
And the busy inquiries which they make after the 
reasons of the phenomena, and their appreciation of 
them, if stated simply and without technical terms, 
show that such teaching is not profitless. Children 
are better philosophers than is commonly supposed. 
' Beginning thus, the natural sciences should be made 
